


Light Up the Dark

by rowaelinsmut



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Nightmares, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 20:55:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13644261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowaelinsmut/pseuds/rowaelinsmut
Summary: Aelin awakes from a nightmare and needs some consoling to bring her back to her senses.





	Light Up the Dark

Aelin couldn’t breathe. No, not this again. Please no.

The iron coffin was suffocating and the darkness of the box weighed her down, pressing against her chest, making it difficult to gasp in much needed breath. Her magic flickered out, she was utterly trapped.

She thrashed wildly and pushed against the lid of the box. It gave a little and she cried out in triumph as a sliver of light rushed in. Her arms faltered against the weight and she was shut in the dark again. She lashed out with her fists and felt her knuckles split. Blood poured down her arms, too much, too fast. The coffin started filling with blood, a reeking stench she was all too familiar with. She pressed herself as close to the coffin door as she could, trying to keep her head above the blood. She sucked in a last breath and was dragged under by pale hands, Maeve’s hands.

She registered shouting from afar, a voice so dear to her she almost wept in relief. The darkness was chased away by the light, death chased away by such brilliant and magnificent life.

Aelin opened her eyes and she was met with her mates’ own pine-green ones. His brow was furrowed with concern and she registered he was on top of her, holding his weight off with one arm while the other traced featherlight strokes down her face.

She leaned into his touch and breathed his scent deep, letting it wash away the terror. Letting his whole being wash over her, reminding her that she was free and would spend the rest of her days waking up with Rowan, never again to be locked and stolen away.

“I’ll always pull you out of the dark, Fireheart.”

Aelin pulled him closer and she placed a shaking hand against his face, right over the tattoo he bore of his past grief. She traced the words lightly and his eyes slipped closed and he hummed softly in response.

“You chase away my demons when I’m awake, it’s only fitting you do it while I’m asleep.” She whispered, with less bravado then she had hoped.

Rowan, thank the gods, chuckled despite her uncertainty. “To whatever end,” he whispered nuzzling his nose against hers.

“To whatever end,” Aelin agreed, the strength of their promise to each other grounding her.

He opened his eyes and his desire was blazing enough that he could have been blessed by Mala himself. He rolled his hips against her and she felt him. Immediately, her blood heated and her magic awoke. An icy wind lazily caressed her neck, her back, soothing her fire.

She arched her back in response, a low moan slipping from between her lips. It broke Rowan’s control; so like the moan all those years ago, when she was keeping those fires burning at Mistward, at a time when he couldn’t act on those desires.

He snarled in response and captured her mouth with his, crushing his lips against hers. Aelin pulled Rowan closer, his body fully covering hers. Their magic played together, taunting and teasing as their kisses grew more savage, full of burning need.

Rowan pulled Aelin up and settled on his knees, holding her against him as his teeth grazed her lip, she shivered in response and leaned into him, running her tongue over his bottom lip. He ripped her nightgown off, the silken material shredding apart.

Aelin made to protest but Rowan cut her off, “it wasn’t gold anyways.” Aelin’s core turned molten and she pushed Rowan back down and climbed on top of him. “It’s a good thing you’re already naked, Buzzard.”

Rowan groaned as he ran his hands up her waist, and cupped a breast, fingering her nipple. Aelin gasped and leaned forward, running her tongue up his chest. She kissed the spot between his neck and shoulder and gently bit down, claiming him. Rowan rolled her back onto her back, barely restraining himself and kissed and nipped her neck and moved to kiss her collarbone.

Aelin pushed her chest against him and Rowan smirked, gazing up at her through his lashes, his hair flopping over his eyes, still mussed from sleep. Aelin could have burned through the bedding, burned through the bed and the stone beneath itself, for the wicked promise gleaming in his eyes.

Rowan captured her breast with his teeth and gently tugged. She whimpered as she pushed on, begging for more. He covered her nipple with his mouth, tonguing it as he rolled her other nipple between his fingers. As he removed his mouth, he sent a kiss of icy wind breezing over her and her nipple peaked and she shivered in response. “Rowan…” she begged, her fingers twining in his hair, pulling him back up to her.

Aelin licked up the column of his throat before taking his mouth again, her elongated canines brushing against his lip, she pulled his lip with her teeth and Rowan shuddered. His tongue brushed into her mouth, teasing hers. He pulled back again and started kissing down her chest, down her stomach before nipping at her hip bone. She raised her hips in response and Rowan snarled in appreciation.

Rowan trailed his tongue from one hip to the other and nipped her other hip, following it with a soothing kiss. He grabbed one of her legs and settled it on his shoulder before spreading the other leg to the side. Aelin’s breathing became more labored as Rowan’s head dipped lower and as he kissed and nipped her upper thigh, before kissing just above her core.

Rowan ran his tongue lower, over her centre and Aelin gasped with a jerk of her hips. One of Rowan’s hands came up to press against her lower abdomen, to hold her still as he unleashed himself on her. Aelin ran her fingers through his hair, tugging softly like she knew he liked and tried, tried to resist bucking her hips. “Rowan…” she gasped out, her hips jerking on their own accord. Rowan hummed deep in his throat as he continued to feast on her. He slipped a finger inside of her, massaging her and she felt herself approaching that cliff, the heat building and the sensation filling her, shaking her to her very core.

He sucked on her centre, pulling ever so gently on it and Aelin freefell. There was no end and no beginning, only her and Rowan and the depth of emotions and sensations she felt through their bond.

Rowan pulled back, setting her legs back on their bed before he kissed his way back up to her face. Aelin was flushed – that primal part of Rowan snarled in satisfaction as he beheld his sated mate, her hair disheveled and her eyes, the golden rings sparkling so bright he could have sworn her flames danced through them.

Rowan settled between her legs and Aelin pulled him closer to her, close enough for him to be nudging against her entrance. Aelin’s eyes flashed with desire. Would she ever get enough of her mate? She wrapped her legs around his backside and ever so slightly nudged him forward. Rowan groaned before sheathing himself to the hilt in one go. Aelin gasped out and fisted her hands in his hair, pulling him closer to her, biting at his lip and moaning against his mouth.

Rowan groaned as he paused let her adjust to the sudden fullness, her hands pulled the fine strands of his hair in urgency and he slowly drew back before driving back into Aelin, clamping his teeth over the soft spot between her neck and shoulder, not stopping this time as he claimed her, in that purely male way of his. Aelin’s legs wrapped around Rowan as she titled her hips to meet his thrusts, moans of desire mixed in with his name ripping from her mouth.

His mouth claimed hers again and he continued to move, the tempo precise but smooth, and easy. “You are mine.” He growled against her lips. The restraint snapped and Rowan knew, despite her nightmare, she wasn’t breakable, she didn’t need to be coddled and he hauled Aelin up against his chest, standing up and lifting her, hardly breaking rhythm.

He pushed Aelin’s back against the wall, and drove back into her, and Aelin’s nails dug into his back as she held on, unable, unwilling to let go. This, this was what she needed. Rowan was her tether. Rowan would bring her home, always, no matter what hell she was trapped in.

Pleasure rippled through Aelin again, and a helpless sound of need slipped out. Fire licked across her skin, Rowan’s ice soothing and taming the flames and Rowan’s mouth clamped down over one of her nipples, and Aelin went past words.

There was only feeling and their bond as she catapulted over the edge again. It was being-altering, world-ending, this joining of mates. And as Aelin came back to claim her other senses, Rowan let go too, and they didn’t break eye contact as he emptied himself into her. He shuddered against her, finally ducking his head into her shoulder, gasping for breath, needing that moment to pull himself together. Aelin stroked his neck, whispering those three cherished, soothing words, “I love you.”

Rowan met her eyes again and then kissed her nose, softly, before setting her down by her waist. She folded herself in his arms and he tucked her close.

“This is an extraordinary life that I never imagined being able to have. Let alone imagine you, being real. Being alive. Being here, safe with me. I know you don’t need my protection, you proved that time and time again. But I will always, always endeavor to protect you anyways.” Rowan kissed the top of her head and Aelin pulled back, her eyes searching his for some hint that he knew.

His eyes softened as she surveyed him and she grabbed one of his hands and splayed it across her stomach, “Would you mind extending that protection to another?”


End file.
